In 1940 several Surrealists were biding their time in a Villa near Marseille awaiting their Visa’s to escape from the oncoming Nazis. One way to while away the time was to play the Le Jeu de Marseilles with cards they had made themselves while waiting.
posted by adamvasco on Jul 19, 2010 - 9 comments

Barbie Tarot.
posted by Orb on Jan 29, 2008 - 22 comments

Hand drawn Tarot Cards created by a Boris Kobe, a prisoner at Allach Concentration Camp, a sub-camp of Dachau. Each card depcits an aspect of life in the camp - click each image for high-res versions.
posted by jonson on Aug 25, 2007 - 34 comments

Playing cards and tarot cards. An amazing resource about cards with hundreds of scanned decks, and an illustrated timeline of cards through the ages. Cards started in China, but the link to the West was the gorgeous decks of the Marmeluks [Coral cache],which used 52 cards (though the suites were polo sticks, coins, swords, and cups), from there, they spread to Europe and evolved into the tarot and playing cards. Through their history, cards remained art there are many beautiful decks in the past, and 20th century artists like Dali and Hockney created their own decks [coral cache].
posted by blahblahblah on Aug 24, 2006 - 14 comments